I'm Not Afraid
by WolverinesDarlin
Summary: The lives of the Marines mean the world to me, so I decided to write a whole story on just them. This is a slight romance between two Marines as they traveled with the Spartan on one of his missions. More inside, total OC.
1. Chapter 1

_INSPIRATION COMES FROM THE STRANGEST PLACES… and the randomnest of times._

_So… I was playing Halo 3 with my brother and we were starting at the Covenant and finishing to Halo. Well during Covenant I kept losing Marines. They kept going in before I could help and they DIED. Well I'm very protective of my Marines and it made me sad to see them die._

_Well by the end of the game at the end video, when they have the memorial service, I saw the pictures of several of the Marines'. THIS made me sad too. It also got me to thinking… _

_What if we focused more on the lives of the Marines?_

_Here's a romance idea…_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Halo_

**BEGIN**

"I need Marines!" The Spartan shouted over the gunfire. The Marines could handle the stragglers but he needed a team to help with infiltrating that base. What he needed was inside and there was no time to waste.

A group of Marines ran up to the Spartan. "What do you need us to do?" One Marine asked gruffly.

"We're taking these vehicles," he indicated to two Warthogs and a Mongoose, "to that building." He pointed to a large structure that was above them on a cliff. "I'll be taking one of the Warthogs and two Marines." He finished.

Chief looked at the group for no more than 3 seconds before pointing out two Marines. "You two." He threw a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the Warthog.

"Yes sir!" One of the Marines saluted and headed away followed by her comrade.

She heard the The Spartan order the other Marines to pick a vehicle and go.

She saw her comrade fall into step with her on the corner of her eye. "What do you think we're goin' up there for?" He asked.

"How should I know?" She shrugged, she looked down at the ground when she felt the ground harden under her, the sandy beach turning into muddy grass.

"You know, that's getting' old." He said angrily.

"What is?" She adjusted her assault rifle on her shoulder and rolled her neck.

"The fact that Spartan never tell us a damn thing. They point, say shoot and we do. We never know why." He Sighed and

"Do we need a reason to kill hostiles?" She asked looking at him as they continued their quick walk to the Warthog.

He looked tired; his usually dark flipped hair was flat and light with sand. He had mud smeared on the side of his face, trailing his jaw line up to his ear. He looked older than he was; with the bags under his eyes and the fatigue and frustration clear on his face.

She didn't expect to look any better.

"No… but it would be nice to know WHAT we are actually doing instead of just followin' some guy in a suit because we don't know where we're goin'." He looked over to her just as she looked away. "Why do you always defend them?" He questioned spite clear in his voice.

"Because they aren't the enemy, Nick." She looked over to him.

Nick almost huffed but refrained. "Yeah, but Karen-"

"Step to it Marines we don't have all day!" The Spartan came up next to them and ran past.

"Yes sir…" She replied immediately before speeding up her pace with Nick.

Karen grabbed the bar and pulled herself up and in the passenger seat. She braced herself against the seat by putting her right foot against the outside from of the door, her assualt rifle at the ready.

She felt the Warthog bounce as Nick jumped up onto the back of the vehicle and grabbed hold of the torret.

Chief slammed on the gas and took off down the narrow path up the mountain and towards the large structure on the hill.

**HALO**

"No!" Karen screamed from the passenger seat as the Mongoose exploded in front of them. She watched helplessly as the Spartan drove passed without casting a glance to the dead or dying Marines.

Nick slammed his fist into the bar above her head in frustration before swivveling around and riddling the grunt and the Ghost with a torrent of bullets.

"Sir we have to…!" She argued pointing behind her.

"They're gone. We have a mission to finish." The Spartan said simply, not even looking at her.

Karen turned in her seat to look at Nick who looked just as upset as her and he shook his head at her, as if saying 'this is what I'm talking about'.

They were all that was left, only minutes before the Mongoose's destruction the second Warthog had been destroyed by a Wraith; the Marines had died instantly, never stood a chance.

'_They don't do anything for us. They are sent to finish a mission no matter what. Protecting us is NOT their mission… out there with a Spartan or not, we're on our own.' _She could hear her Commanding Officer now. She had scoffed and said he was wrong; that, 'Spartans were the best thing that had happened to us since the beginning of the war'. She wasn't so sure anymore, what if Marines really were just expendable to them? Helpful but not a priority? … That couldn't be right.

The Warthog sped up the last incline before he slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop in front of a massive door.

Karen stared wide-eyed at the massive doors; they were all black and had strange markings on it. There was foreign writing around the edges of the doors, anything on the inside of that writing however was all designs; curves, slants, strange flowers, and faces decorating the black door.

"Where…" She turned to face the Spartan but he was already outside the Warthog and walking up to the door.

Karen stood up on the outside of the vehicle, The Spartan put a single hand on the door and seemed to soak it all in.

"Nick wha-"

"No idea…" Nick interrupted.

"Nick?" She turned to face him.

"What?" He seemed to be avoiding eye contact.

"Do you think The Spartans think we are… expendable? I mean I know THEY are Marines… in a manner of speaking. But could they… think we just help the process, finish the last parts, and clean up the mess?"

Nick sighed and looked at her. "Karen I have no idea." He looked away to watch The Spartan as he seemed to scan the large door he was talking to himself but he figured he was just talking to Cortana. "I don't think that they believe we are just pawns for them to use in battle, but I don't think they think of us as one of their own. They won't come back for us if we're in danger." He admitted.

Karen looked down and away from Nick, "I thought… I thought they were heroes." Karen's mind flashed back to all her friends lost in battle under a Spartan. Their faces flitted through her mind, and then she flashed to Spartan's; he didn't even look back, or say anything. He just kept moving as if their screams and deaths meant nothing, it didn't even faze him.

"Karen." Nick ducked down to her line of vision until she looked up at him properly. "They ARE heroes. Karen… without them we wouldn't have gotten this far."

"But…"

"I know. But just because they don't have emotional breakdowns or have the tendency to come back for friends… they could just be… used to it. In their line of work they've seen hundreds if not thousands of people fall. After awhile, maybe, they found that going back wasn't always an option, or wasn't always the best for the sake of the missions success."

Karen sighed as did he.

"We can't save everyone." Nick finished.

Karen smiled a little. "Since when did you start defending them, 'partner'?"

He smiled as well, "Around the time you stopped believin' heroes were heroes."

Karen looked behind herself to see that the Spartan was still focused on a closed door that was in no point in time ever going to be opened without some sort of control panel, or a HUGE explosion.

He turned around and started heading back, jumping into the Warthog and taking off.

"Where are we going?" Karen asked, just about as tired as Nick was about being left out of the loop.

"Cortana said we can access the doors controls from another facility a while off." He explained quickly.

Karen nodded curtly before flashing Nick a look of frustration earning her a smirk from him, she simply rolled her eyes and Ben turned around in the torrent chair, facing the back to cover their six. She looked back in front of her; only in time for her to scream and point.

The Spartan turned on the wheel sharply, avoiding a collision with the Ghost but it resulted in slamming the passenger side of the vehicle into the cliff wall.

They were currently in a narrow pass. Their 'road' was a grassy trail that was currently drowning in mud from the downpour that had ended only an hour before they were recruited by the Spartan; on either side of them was a wall of rock.

Behind her Nick grunted but when she looked back he appeared unharmed. "You alright?" He asked her.

She nodded, "You?"

"Fantastic."

The Spartan pulled the Warthog away from the wall as Nick aimed up with the Ghost, the two having a shootout. When she moved to put her own ammo into taking down the Grunt in the Ghost she saw two more coming up beside them.

"We have company!" She shouted, aiming her grenade launcher up with the two new Ghosts rather than the first.

"Yeah!" Nick whooped when the Grunt finally died and ran his Ghost into the cliff wall, her own focus still on the other two. She aimed up her launcher; on her last grenade and got prepared to fire, aiming directly for one of the drivers when the jeep lurched as the Spartan punched the gas and sent them flying away from the remaining two.

She screamed in frustration throwing the launcher out of the vehicle. She heard the metal bash against the hard rock making a loud bang.

"Why would you do that? I could have had it!" She yelled at the Spartan, angry her shot and grenade had been wasted.

When he didn't reply it took all of her will power not to cross her arms and pout. Behind her she heard Ben's torrent firing. She looked behind her to see both Ghosts following in close pursuit and firing.

"Shit" She cursed and un-shouldered her assault rifle. She faced the rear end of the Warthog and poked out her door, firing her rifle at the Ghosts.

One of the Ghosts caught fire and crashed, exploding on impact; both Marines whooped as they focused their fire on the last one, not long after it was down the same way.

"Yeah!" Nick pumped his fist in the air as Karen plopped back down into her seat properly.

"We're clear." She announced, laying her assault rifle across her lap.

Spartan nodded and turned the corner and shot down the trail, "Good shootin' 'partner'." Nick complimented, she looked over her shoulder and looked him, smiling.

"Thanks. Not so bad yourself." She winked at him. She caught a glimpse of purple behind him and perked up moving to see a better view.

"Nick behind you!" She screamed and pointed, to the Ghost that had come up behind them.

She pulled her assault rifle off her lap and got ready to cover him while he got situated but was too late.

Nick screamed in pain and jolted forward as one of the blasts from the Ghost hit his back. He slumped backwards and fell off the back.

"NO!" Karen screamed watching as his body got smaller and smaller. "Sir stop! We have to go back!" She screamed pulling at his right arm.

"We don't have time." He said pulled his arm out of her grasp.

"STOP!" She pounded on his arm before turning around and firing at the Ghost. She climbed out of the passenger seat and onto the torrent platform.

However, instead of just using the torrent to take the Ghost down faster she tucked and rolled off the vehicle and ran towards the Ghost instead. As it was about to hit her she dropped to the ground on her back throwing up a grenade at the same moment.

As the Ghost continued forward only 5 seconds later did it erupt into flames and explode. She jumped to her feet and ran in the direction that Nick was.

**CLIFFHANGER**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, Bungie does._

_Finale! Enjoy!_

**BEGIN**

Karen skidded to a stop on her knees next to Nick's body. "Nick..?"

He was laying face down, his back exposed to the rain that was starting to come back down. His uniform was stained with dark red.

She gently rolled him over and examined his face, she pressed to fingers to his neck and waited for a pulse to beat under her fingertips; when she felt on she sighed in relief.

"Nick…" She stroked the side of his face with the back of her hand. "Nick… sweetheart, wake up 'partner'."

"Karen…" Nick rasped, his eyes fluttering open against the rain. "Karen…" he repeated.

"I'm here Nick… I'm here…" She soothed stroking his wet dark hair away from his face.

"What happened?" he asked, wincing at the effort to talk or move.

Karen tried to smile a little but knew she failed terribly. "Ghosts, you never see them coming…"

Nick laughed but the action brought blood up, spilling over his lips. "Oh god Nick I'm sorry…" She apologized, wiping the blood away with her thumb.

"S'not your fault…" He slurred, blinking against the rain falling on his face.

She shook her head in denial, fussing over him, trying to pull something out of her basic training when she was still a rookie, ANYTHING that could save him.

"Stop fussin' Karen… I hardly feel pain." He smiled, his white teeth stained with the blood that filled his mouth only moments before. He coughed against the rising blood and pinched his eyes closed for a moment.

"Oh god… don't die…" She stroked his hair, running her fingers through his hair. "don't die…"

She could feel the mud soaking up into her pants, the rain was drenching the both of them. Part of her wanted to at least get him out of the rain.

He reached a shaking hand up to her dripping face, her tears mixing with the rain. "You came back…"

"Of course I did… we're partners…" She smiled weakly.

"I'm sorry Karen..."

"Nick no." She cried, she grabbed his hand with hers and held it there on the side of her face.

"I love you…"

"Nick don't you dare start saying goodbye." She tried her best to look stubborn and strict but it was given away when she started shaking.

"Don't be afraid Karen…" He whispered, more blood spilling over his lips.

Karen pressed her lips into his palm and kissed it. "I love you." She sobbed.

"I know…" He closed his eyes. "Kiss me…" He whispered.

Karen released his hand and bent down to kiss him, cupping the side of his face in her own hand.

"I'm not afraid…" he whispered when they broke apart. "I'm not afraid…" He repeated even quieter, sighing one last time.

Nick did not reopen his eyes, nor did he take another breath.

"Oh god..." Karen breathed. She wiped his blood away from her own lips now, the taste of metal filling her mouth, a sob escaped her throat.

She brought his body into her lap, holding his face next to her own and crying freely, mourning the loss of her partner and lover.

"Nick…" She whispered his name, willing his life back into his body. She heard the sound of the Warthog driving towards her but ignored it.

She rocked back and forth, holding his body to her chest. "Come back Nick… I'm afraid…" she mumbled, hoping that admitting her fear would make him come back to comfort her.

She heard the sound of the Warthog stopping behind her and the squish of the mud under heavy boots but didn't do or say anything until the owner of the heavy boots put a hand on her shoulder.

She laid Nick's body back onto the soft ground and shot up and faced the Spartan.

"You left him!" She screamed pointing a threatening finger in his face.

"What would it have done. Even if we had turned around right away, picked him up and went for a medical facility he would still be dead. That injury was to great, with the distance we would have to go for proper help he would have been 30 minutes dead."

"I hate you." She said menacingly, her voice was low with anger.

There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke again. "I was able to access the door controls. The doors should be open now. I called in reinforcements. We'll take his body with us." He moved to pick up the body when she stepped in his way.

"Fuck you." How dare he? She just lost her best friend, her partner, her lover… and he goes on about the mission and what HE did while Nick died?

_The nerve of him! _She screamed in her head.

She flipped him off and moved to the body herself picking him up and carrying him to the Warthog fireman carry. She laid him down on the torrent platform before sitting there herself to make sure he didn't fall of during the ride.

The Spartan didn't say a word, instead he got in the jeep and drove off.

**HALO**

_Karen fidgeted with a rubber band over and over, her long hair falling around her shoulders and hiding her face from the rest of the Marines inside the transport ship. _

"_You alright there rookie?" a voice asked from beside her._

_Karen flipped her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear and faced the voice. "Yeah fine. Why?"_

"_No reason." He held out his hand. "I'm Nick."_

_She took it and shook firmly. "Karen, Karen Elizabeth."_

"_Is Elizabeth or last or middle name?" He asked._

"_Last" she nodded. She looked back to her rubber band before pulling it over her fingers and tying her hair through into a ponytail._

"_Nervous?" He asked finally._

"_Yes." She laughed nervously. "Very."_

"_What are you nervous about."_

"_Losing a friend… being left alone." she admitted, picking at her fingerless gloves._

"_Don't worry about that…" Nick laughed waving his hand dismissively, he spun his helmet in circles in his hands._

"_Why not? This is war… somethi-"_

"_Something could happen." He finished for her. "Yes something CAN happen. But… we're partners." He smiled. "And partners have each other's backs. If we both have each other's backs… we'll be alright." He winked at her and she blushed a little._

_Moments later the chopper touched down and Nick and Karen put their helmets on, same as everyone else._

"_You ready to go 'partner'?" Nick smiled, standing up and grabbing his weapons._

"_You bet… 'partner'." She smiled back._

_She grabbed her equipment same as Nick but when he went to leave she grabbed his arm. "What are you afraid of?"_

"_Same as you… 'm afraid of being alone, of losing a friend on the field."_

"_Well I got your back." She smirked._

"_And I've got yours."_

"_You know what?" She smiled at him a playful glint in her eyes, "I'm not afraid anymore..."_

_He smirked. "Neither am I."_

**HALO**

Karen watched as medics covered Nick's body and carried him away on a stretcher, tears still threatening to fall at anytime, she was grateful it was still raining and that she could blame it on that.

She jumped when she heard her CO bark at her. "Elizabeth!"

Karen spun on her heel and faced the gruff man. "Sir!"

But instead of a rough, 'What the hell happened?' like she expected she was met with a, "You alright soldier?"

Karen stared dumbfounded for a moment but regained her composure. "Yes sir…"

"I understand what happened with Jenkins, Wilson, Kepler, Spencer and Carter, Spartan filled me in. But what happened with Vance?" He questioned.

"He got shot in the back, I went back for him when Spartan didn't, and he died before Spartan got back." She explained shortly.

Her CO nodded. "Nick Vance was a good soldier, it's good to know he didn't die alone. Good work." The CO saluted her before turning around and directly this and that for the team going in to help the Spartan finish his mission.

Karen stared blankly after him, after that she went into a sort of daze.

…_. He didn't die alone. _She repeated.

_I'm not afraid… _

_Same as you… 'm afraid of being alone…_

"He wasn't afraid…" She beamed. _If that's one thing that can come from this it's that. _"I'm not afraid." She said aloud, walking with confidence to the helicopter.

**AUTHORSNOTE**

_Man! I could NOT think of an ending for this story. I settled with this one, but I had a few different ones going on… blah._

_I also had trouble finding the final sentence, that's always a pain in the butt for me._

_Anyway I hope you liked it, please review! Pretty please?_

_BTW, if the name 'Ben' comes up at all. IGNORE IT. Ben is Nick. I had changed Nick from Ben near the end of the story... and must have missed a couple of 'bens' so Ben is Nick._


End file.
